The Story

From its humble beginnings in a sheep barn in Blue Grass, Virginia, Moto Electra Racing has consistently been on the podium against factory teams with much larger budgets. This team coalesced around the dream of country lawyer, Brian Richardson, allowing Moto Electra Racing to produce surprising results.

The team’s journey began in 2009 when Brian Richardson (with no background in motorcycle racing) decided he wanted to build a cafe racer…with a twist. The classic cafe racer is built around a Norton Featherbed frame, one of which was called a Norton Electra. Given Brian’s desire to build an electric race bike, a name like Electra jumped out at him.

Once he settled on the frame, he needed a motor that could “do the ton” (go over 100 mph) in order to be competitive. With no “golden age of electric vehicle racing” to look back to (we’re living it!), Brian had to go with what felt right. And feel right it did. After months of building the bike in his kitchen, barn and anywhere else his wife Betty would let him work on it, Brian had built the bike that would become known as the Moto Electra and would go on to achieve the following:

Coast-to-Coast, All-Electric World Record in 2013 (Jacksonville, FL Pier to Santa Monica Pier in 3.5 days)